It is with some regret that Memorial Day services were slowed during these tumultuous times, but Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home and social-distancing orders prevented large gatherings from celebrating those soldiers who fought and died for our country.

Catasauqua American Legion Post 215 held a brief service to mark Memorial Day May 25 and dispatched a detail consisting of the American Legion Riders, Francis Hadik, Jack Thomas and Duke Hartan to Fairview Cemetery, St. Mary’s cemetery, North Catasauqua Armed Services Memorial and the Lehigh River for a ceremonial wreath drop.

Our dead are considered heroes, and each is important. America survives today because of the actions of these brave men. It is only the combat soldier who knows the glory, the gore and the grandeur of war. It is only the combat veteran who understands the fears and grit of combat.

Journey with me to 1918 and the battle at the Marne. American troops were green, with the grizzled veterans of the Civil War gone from the fighting ranks. The great militaries were British, German and French. Americans were the farmers who just arrived on European shores. Yet, Col. Stanton boldly proclaimed when he arrived, “Lafayette, we are here,” to honor the help the French military gave to the American colonies nearly two centuries earlier.

The Germans crossed the Marne in their major offensive to win the war with one last intensive campaign against the exhausted British and French forces.

General John J. Pershing did not want to commit his forces; they were untrained and unfamiliar with large unit combat. The Allies begged him to reconsider.

As the troops marched forward to their positions, the retreating Allies warned them of the invincible enemy. The Americans continued forward. They were not fighting to save France or Paris. They were fighting to preserve American values.

As the Germans rapidly advanced, the 38th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division held firm. They delayed the German advance until reinforcements could arrive. They carry the distinction today as the “Rock of the Marne.”

Multiple Medal of Honor winners and the bravery of those in this battle earned the respect of their Allied counterparts.

“They gave 10,000 times more than they got,” Marshal Ferdinand Foch said.

It was the combined courage of American troops that turned the tide of battle.

The decisive American involvement in World War II earned the world a period of Pax Americana, known as a state of relative international peace regarded as overseen by the United States.

We celebrate those who served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice so this unique nation where “all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” shall not perish from the earth.